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Friday, 11 March 2016

Review - 'Legends of Tomorrow', S01E08 - 'Night of the Hawk'

Following the new lead uncovered at the
end of the previous episode, Rip Hunter set a course for the 1950s as
the latest episode of Legends of Tomorrow
began. It was, of course, just another in a series of increasingly
impressive shifts in both location and tone. Following up episodes
devoted to exploring the Soviet Union in the 1980s, the future
dystopia of a city overrun by crime, and a ship stranded in
deep-space with something as seemingly mundane as small-town America
seems to suggest that the creator's of this series are becoming
increasingly comfortable with its outlandish premise - and, it is
exactly the sort of thing I was hoping for when Legends of
Tomorrow was first announced.

Things
got off to a fascinating start, too. They may have been able to track
Vandal Savage down to a particular time and place - but, with no
clear idea of what he is actually doing, they are still at a very
obvious disadvantage. With only a series of violent murders to offer
any indication that anything is amiss in this small town, the team
are forced to split up as they set out in search of more information.
Professor Stein and Sara Lance take up positions as a new doctor and
nurse, respectively, at a local asylum, where they hope to uncover
information about potentially dangerous patients. Rip Hunter and
Leonard Snart pose as FBI agents investigating the series of murders,
in order to get access to the police files. Jax works to get close to
the girlfriend of a young man who recently went missing, in order to
uncover any possible connection. And, Ray Palmer and Kendra Saunders
pose as a recently married couple looking to buy a house... for some
reason.

I'm
not sure if I just missed a line of dialogue, here, but I honestly
have no idea what it was that Ray and Kendra were intended to achieve
with their part in this plan - not that it mattered, though, since
Vandal Savage managed to, quite literally, show up on their door-step
shortly after they settled in. Savage, it seems, is currently posing
as another doctor at the same asylum where Stein and Sara have set
themselves up. He has managed to get himself into such a respected
position that he has an entire wing of the asylum to himself - where
the most dangerous patients are sent for private treatment. Also, as
part of his assumed identity, he just so happens to be Kendra and
Ray's neighbour.

Savage
instantly recognised Kendra, of course - but, also seems to have
assumed that Kendra's memories of her past lives haven't begun to
surface, yet. This gives her, and the rest of the team, their most
obvious advantage as they begin to work on a plan to finally stop
their foe. But, of course, there's still the matter of what Vandal
Savage was doing in this small town, in the first place - a plan
which, naturally, sees him conducted horrific experiments on the
inmates under his care. Using a recovered meteor of the same material
which gave him his immortality (and, Kendra and Curtis their own
powers), Savage seems set on making himself an army - yet, the
results of his efforts are much more monstrous, and much more
difficult to control, than he had hoped.

As
interesting as the basic premise of this episode was, to start with,
it's not too long until things begin to feel a little strained - as
some of the recurring issues I have had with Legends of
Tomorrow begin to surface, once
more. While bringing Vandal Savage back into focus does, finally,
allow Kendra Saunders to be brought back into the spot-light, it also
high-lights some of the problems that I have had with them throughout
the series. For one thing, the fact that, as has already been well
established, Vandal Savage can only be truly killed by a certain
dagger wielded by a certain person is a plot-point that has bothered
me since the beginning of the season - and, I don't think that's
going to change. It just feels more like something out of a older
video-game, to me.

Another,
somewhat related, source of frustration for me is the way in which
the battle against Vandal Savage has been portrayed, in general -
and, this episode provides another example of that. Every time the
team of 'Legends' have come face-to-face with Savage they have,
essentially won - yet, every time Savage has been able to slip away.
Rip Hunter has even managed to 'kill' Vandal Savage on two separate
occasions - yet, both times, he has managed to return, in the end,
because they didn't have that dagger. Even his first appearance, in
last years Arrow/The Flash
cross-over, ended with Savage being defeated. What all of this adds
up to is that Savage has begun to seem more lucky, than truly
dangerous. Increasingly, he just doesn't seem like a big enough
threat to require this entire team of 'super-heroes'. And, it's a
shame because, while he still might not have the same natural
charisma as some of the other long-term villains we have seen, I do
enjoy what Casper Crump has brought to the role of Vandal Savage
(and, this episode's scenes between Savage and Kendra were suitably
tense).

Those
issues, while still relevant, are season-wide ones, though - and,
they are somewhat beyond the scope of this single episode. So, let's
try to shift focus back in that direction.

While
the idea of Savage working in secret to build himself an super-powered
army is compelling, in itself, I do have to admit that the creatures
he was creating, here, just didn't work for me. It might have been
the over sized teeth that all of the actors were required to wear? Or,
the squawking? Or, the performer's somewhat unconvincing efforts to
make bird-like mannerisms look genuinely threatening? Whatever the
reason (and, honestly, it was probably a combination of all of them),
those half-bird monstrosities just came across as a little goofy,
rather than threatening. You could say that this fits with the
overall tone of the series, sure - and, you might even be right. But,
that doesn't change the fact that I had to suppress a cringe whenever
they were on screen.

Where
this episode truly succeeds, though, is once again in those moments
of interaction between its varied cast - and, there was a fair bit to
enjoy about seeing the different ways that they responded to the
1950s. While Professor Stein seemed to have a sentimental review of
this particular time-period (which seems perfectly natural, given
that this would have been the period of his own childhood), it is
fairly obvious that he was the only one.

If
anything, this episode seemed to go out of its way to remind the
audience that, actually, the 1950s most definitely wasn't some
idyllic point in modern history - and, that it had its fair share of
problems. We had Kendra and Ray raising eyebrows, and drawing
unwanted comments, as an 'interracial' couple in the 1950s - while,
Jax had his own, somewhat more violent, issues with race. Meanwhile,
Sara Lance, in her role posing as an asylum nurse, has a direct
encounter with the casual sexism of the time - both directed toward
herself, and another nurse. Then, we have even have issues of
sexuality cropping up when Sara (who, it should be remembered,
actually has been previously established as bi-sexual - so, it's not
coming entirely out of nowhere) finds herself drawn into a momentary
relationship with that same nurse - who, it turns out, has tried to
repress her own homosexuality.

Honestly,
at a certain point, all of this has to start to feel a little
contrived. After all, in the end we have an episode that managed to
touch on racism, sexism, and homophobia despite not actually being
about any of those issues. But, while it might border on feeling a
bit heavy-handed, the episode's insistence of delving in to these
issues is also a source of some great character moments. For Sara, in
particular, this became a very important moment - as, beyond simply
touching on issues of homophobia and sexual repression, she was
forced to realise that the idea of letting herself get genuinely
close to another person, for the first time after her resurrection,
genuinely terrified her. Kendra and Ray, meanwhile, also managed to
find some moments where their blossoming romantic relationship
actually felt genuine - which comes as something of a relief, after
the awkwardness of the previous episode.

These sort of character
moments are always going to be important, especially on a show with a
cast of character as large and as varied as this one - so, I'm glad
that Legends of Tomorrow is
still able to find the time for them. I'm also glad that we have
finally turned our attention back toward Vandal Savage, after a
couple of episodes devoted to exploring unrelated side-plots. But,
that being said, I do have to admit that I am growing increasingly
concerned about how this central plot-line is playing out. Once
again, we had an episode where Savage simply wasn't able to come
across as the large-scale threat he needs to be in order to justify
the existence of this show - and, I think that the responsibility for
that rests more with the writers, then with Casper Crump. More often
than not, his appearances have lead to him being placed in situations
where he simply seems out-classed by the heroes intent on stopping
him - and, where his escapes depend more on dumb luck than skill.
Each episode has begun by telling us how dangerous Vandal Savage is -
but, hopefully, we will be allowed to actually see it for ourselves,
before the season ends.